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Officially announced today (or maybe over the weekend and I missed it), but the title is Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

I'm guessing 99% more Luke Skywalker as they pull him into the new storylines.

Not sure if it means anything, but the title poster has "Star Wars" outlined in red; whereas Episode VII had it in yellow.

Reportedly, Admiral Ackbar will be back. In a sad side story, I had to explain to my nephew that Admiral Raddus and Admiral Ackbar were two different guys and that Raddus probably died. I had to put a positive spin on it: "but we didn't see Raddus get killed...so he could still be out there, somewhere".

So I need to add Raddus to my Episode TEN script (formerly "Episode VII" in the 90's), along with Mace Windu, Walrus Man and others.

We talked about the prequels, recently, in the "What Movies Have you Watched Today" thread. So here's something I found regarding jar Jar Binks:

Savin' you a click:

Quote:

Flash forward to the months after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, when Aftermath: Empire’s End picks up. The novel includes interludes that show what other characters are doing across the galaxy. In one of them, we see Theed, the capital city of Naboo. Mapo, a young refugee displaced by the Galactic Civil War, finds a Gungan performing tricks and feats for children on the streets of Theed.

The children enjoy his antics, but the adults look on him with scorn. The Gungan introduces himself: His name is Jar Jar.

Jar Jar tells Mapo that he’s a street performer because he made “some uh-oh mistakens” in the past. Naboo judged Jar Jar for these mistakes, other Gungans won’t even talk to him, and he was banished from his home. We can assume that Jar Jar fell out of favor because he was the one who gave Palpatine the power to create the Empire. Mapo seems interested in becoming a clown, and Jar Jar offers to help him do that. This offers a faint hint of hope that maybe Jar Jar can find redemption for his well-meaning but misguided actions.

It's from the fill-in book "Empire's End", which is now considered canon.

The article then mentions that "kids loved Jar jar". Huh? Any truth to that? Not that I'm a hardcore Star Wars fan, but I've never encountered ANY level of appreciation for Jar Jar, regardless of a fan's age. Has he really become a witch hunt victim, due to older fans hating him?

Unlike most modern trailers, the plot isn't spelled out. So, just a buncha' clips and images to prime the pump. I'm sure there a buncha' YouTube videos where some dork says: "Things we learned in the new Star Wars Trailer".

Since "The Force Awakens" kinda' paralled the original "Star Wars", I'd guess that the theme of this one is much darker, like "Empire Strikes Back" was (Snow troopers in there?). Or, for that matters, "The Two Towers"-- the "time when things look darkest" for our heroes.

To me, it felt like two or three episodes of a cartoon. The similarities to Empire Strikes Back where there, as it was essentially a big chase (First Order following the Resistance fleet; compared to Vader chasing Han in the Falcon), while somebody else was off training to be a Jedi (Rey and Luke; compared to Luke and Yoda).

-I like how it completely shook things up. "Let the old things die" was sort of the theme to the whole movie.

-I guess Kylo Ren's sort of the "star", going forward? I wasn't a big fan of his in "The Force Awakens", but they can do some interesting stuff with him, now.

-Maybe I missed something, but Rey and Kylo Ren were dueling and the light saber broke apart. Next time we see Rey, she's in the Falcon on Crait. What happened there?

-SuperLeia surviving the vacuum of space was hella' lame. That really added nothing, as having her return really didn't affect the plot. Rumors are that her real life death will lead to Leia being written out, off-screen, before Episode 9.

-Admiral Holdo was incredibly cheesy. Her gown, weird tiara and hair made her look like a Dr. Who or Star Trek character. The ugly chick with the big nose would've been a better pick for Holdo's role.

-They killed off Admiral Ackbar, but left Nien Nunb?

-Who was Poe's lizard/porpoise looking pilot buddy? He's the modern version of Wedge.

-I guess Chewie's a vegetarian now?

-Thought the entire Canto Bight divergence was terrible. That definitely felt like a Clone Wars cartoon. Right down to the modern animated feature staple of having a big out-of-control chase, where everybody runs through crowds shouting "Whoooaaaa!!"

-What really pissed me off about Canto Bight was the fact that they were THIS CLOSE to bringing back Lando with that plot point. They were supposed to be looking for a savvy gambler... I was totally expecting Lando. Then it turned out to be some throwaway caricature guy in a tux....then they threw in Benicio del Toro doing a version of the X-men's Gambit?

-I think this had the first official "curse" word in the Star Wars movies-- when Poe talked about "That big ass door". "Hell" was also used, but it's been heard on-screen before, I believe (like in ESB when Han tells a Rebel general: "then I'll see you in hell").

-Also the first official mention of the prequels in "real Star Wars"-- as Luke referenced Darth Sidious' rise to power.

-The regular ol' TIE fighters and other First Order weaponry were highly efficient. The way they quickly shredded the bomber ships was impressive.

-Snoke was a big letdown and now a completely forgettable character. I was fully expecting his backstory to be filled in, but now we'll only hear about in a flashback or "Expanded Universe" crap. Liked how Rey and Kylo Ren squared off against the guards. They were much more convincing than the original Royal Guards from "Return of the Jedi".

-Speaking of the "EU"; this movie again showed why I hate that stuff. They ended up on the planet "Crait"... which, when I heard it, I thought was a connection to the EU "Krayt Dragons", but they're completely different.

-Finn was another letdown. He was fine in his role as a hero/semi-lead, but I was also expecting more about his backstory. "Storm Trooper who defects as soon as he sees blood" needs more fleshing out. His Storm Trooper past was almost completely ignored. I thought the whole "tracking us through hyperspace" was because the First Order was tracking Finn, due to some embedded Trooper chip or something. I figured that's why he was wanting to jump into an escape pod. Nope, instead it was some techno-babble BS that was doing the tracking.

-Luke's last words were "see ya' around, kid". Umm... okay. I definitely felt like there was more of "Joker Hamill" with some of his dialogue and sarcasm. "okay, you're right. That's definitely nowhere".

-Liked the surprise YODA appearance!

-General Hux is almost purely comic relief. I laughed at the comm link sequence, yet thought it felt odd. Rowe hit the nail on the head by saying it was more suited for "Guardians of the Galaxy".

-Final shot with the kids was cheesy. The Rebellion lives on...as Stevie the stable hand (and his magic decoder ring) will no longer pick up horse shit! Stick it to da' man!

-I still think they're building towards Rey and Kylo Ren as twin siblings. A lot of people thought that in the first movie, but JJ Abrams shot them down. Of course, this was the same guy who denounced all the immediate theories about LOST being an after-life limbo in 2004...when that turned out to be the case in 2010 (sort of, with some mild tweaking). It's like he's thinking: "I've got this great idea for a swerve! Nobody will see it coming! Wait...they figured it out that quickly!? Errr... okay, we'll work on that. We've got time".

Overall, while I wasn't pumped for this movie, I was still a little let down. I absolutely loved "Rogue One" (despite "Stardust") and I'm still pumped for the Han Solo movie.

The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson killed off Snoke as it was deemed necessary to advance Kylo Ren with a compelling set-up for Episode IX. When asked if he ever planned to elaborate on Snoke's back-story, Johnson replied, "It would have stopped any of these scenes dead cold if he had stopped and given a 30-second speech about how he's Darth Plagueis. It doesn't matter to Rey. If he had done that, Rey would have blinked and said, 'Who?' And the scene would have gone on. [pause] And I'm not saying he's Darth Plagueis!"

So the two popular theories on Snoke are that he was Darth Plageuis (kinda' shot down, above) or that he was Vader's underling on Mustafar, who appeared and spoke one line in Rogue One. That second one was strongly denied by creators of that flick, too. Snoke's Wookieepedia backstory kinda' hints at the second theory, though.

And yeah, not too happy that you have to research nerdy movies, online, nowadays, to get all the details.

Oh... guess the subplot/backstory about the Knights of Ren is on the back-burner. There's a chance they'll get to that in Episode 9, but I doubt it.